Margaret Medcalf Award
Isla Macphail is the winner of this year’s Margaret Medcalf Award for her Highest Privilege and Bounden Duty: A study of Western Australian parliamentary elections 1829-1901.
At a presentation on Wednesday morning, 20 May 2009, Isla Macphail was presented with her prize of $1000 by Margaret Medcalf.
Justine McDermott announced the Award and said that Highest Privilege and Bounden Duty tells the historical origins of our electoral system and makes an important contribution to the teaching of WA history contributing as it does to our understanding of the creation of the WA political system. The book presents a lively, vivid picture of society and a comprehensive history of pre Federation times.
On behalf of the judges Ms McDermott said the book was outstandingly referenced and very precise and systematic, making it particularly easy to follow the author’s research. Both primary and secondary sources have been used to great effect. Furthermore she said the book is well written and professionally presented but with a light turn of phrase and has a surprising level of humour throughout. A somewhat surprising package as it isn’t presented to appeal to the broader community but it does have both academic and community appeal. Highest Privilege and Bounden Duty is published by the WA Electoral Commission.
A Special Commendation was also made to Mowanjum: 50 years community history, published by Mowanjum Aboriginal Community and Mowanjum Artists - Spirit of the Wandjina Aboriginal Corporation and edited and compiled by Mary Anne Jebb.
The other nominations for this year’s Award were Malcolm Allbrook for his PhD Thesis ‘Imperial Family’: the Prinseps, empire and colonial government in India; John Dargavel,for his book The Zealous Conservator: A life of Charles Lane Poole, published by University of Western Australia Press; Felicity Morel-EdnieBrown, for an article titled “Tethered Antipodes”: Imperial impress in centraI Perth, Western Australia, published in “Orb and Sceptre: Studies on British Imperialism and its Legacies, in honour of Norman Etherington”, by Monash University ePress; and Laura Peden Nolan for her book Treasured Island: 175 years of growing up in Guildford, published by the Guildford Primary School Parents and Citizens’ Association and National Trust of Australia (WA).
The State Records Commission established the Margaret Medcalf Award in 2003 for excellence in research and referencing utilizing original sources in the State archives collection. A cash prize of $1,000 is awarded each year to the winner of the Award.
This annual Award honours Margaret Medcalf, the second State Archivist for Western Australia (1971-1989), for her valuable contribution to the development of archives in Western Australia. Works nominated for the Award must demonstrate use of archival sources, and substantial (but not necessarily exclusive) use of State archives held by the State Records Office.
Nominated works may be fiction or non-fiction and may comprise any format (i.e. book, article, conference paper, website, index, etc). Nominated works may be published or unpublished.
Each year, the State Records Office (on behalf of the State Records Commission) calls for nominations for the Award. Nominations may be submitted by anyone, including the author of the work. Nominated works must have been completed or published during the previous year.
The State Records Office requests copies of works from nominees for presentation to the judging panel.
The judging panel for the Award consists of a member of the State Records Commission, the Director of State Records and a well-known WA-based historian.
The judging criteria for the Award are:
Level of use of the State archives collection:
How much does the work rely on archival sources for its argument? What proportion of the cited works are State archives?Use of referencing:
How well does the work reference the sources in the State archives collection? How easy would it be to locate the archival sources the author references?Level of contribution to knowledge (historical, cultural, heritage, etc).
Original use of the State archives collection:
Does the work use new archival material or use different sources to answer questions or highlight issues? Is well known archival material dealt with in a new or different way?
Presentation:
How well has the work been crafted? How well does it stimulate interest in the material? Does the work have community appeal?
This year’s Margaret Medcalf Award will be presented at 10am on 20 May 2009 in the Theatre in the Alexander Library Building
A cash prize of $1000 is awarded to the winner of the Award.
A list of previous winners can be viewed online.
